November 29, 2014

ART is highly calligraphic by nature. When the Alpha Seer says “art,” he always means true art, or Lineage art. Lineage art is defined as the art that is passed down to the millennia from ancient Egypt and Greece, from Africa and China, and from the greatest European masters like Titian and Velazquez. While by calligraphy, we liberally mean the art of handwriting that deals only with the brushwork portion, i.e. the black part of the forms. With ART, it has become profoundly and specifically associated with black and white interactions and relationships. E.g. great Chinese calligraphy involves mainly line- making, with the brushwork snaking through the paper like a dragon, twisting and turning. With ART, not only the black part is being attended to, the white portion is being given equal treatment as well.

I have attached several great pieces (and two lousy works for the purpose of contrasts,) in order to demonstrate this calligraphic aspect of ART. In Titian’s work (second image), we only need to follow the twists and turns of the entire parade of female nudes to enjoy his fabulous expression in calligraphic beauty. In Velazquez’ work( unfortunately, for some reason I cannot upload that image here ), all you need is to follow the scarf, the bust of the woman, her face, her headdress, the scarf again, her hands, the fabric she is working on, then further continued with the tablecloth which goes all the way to to the lower left corner. The small black triangle at the lower right hand corner is of crucial significance, as it not only indicates the track of the black dragon, it also serves as a landmark for the farthest reach of the south east quadrant of the total black.The twists and turns in Knox Martin’s work has become very subtle. His use of tonality is relatively modest, i.e. you won’t see the strong contrasts of black and white in Knox’s work but the interactions of his Yin and Yang is very complex. At first glance one may not be able to determine if he is working with the black and white elements at all,– but make no mistake, this is part of where his greatness lies. The absence of high contrast in his work is just one of his many wonderful inventions and innovations. With Ben Lau, the twists and turns and contrasts continue to be prominent, very much in tune with his personality. Ben Lau’s twists and turns are smooth and powerful. That by no means suggests that ruggedness is not just as good an expression, –on the contrary, the ruggedness in Titian and Velazquez’ work is as explosive and as wild as fury, and their manners of expression naturally become highly vivid and harmonized! As a function of the black dragon, the white dragon blossoms into life and it dances gracefully, and in-step, with its counterpart.

That calligraphic beauty of both black and white in the masters’ composition has become the immortal beauty of ART. You can easily throw out a centerfold without regret,–those Playboy centerfolds, for example, after you are tired of it, but you won’t ever get tired of the masterful and calligraphic compositions. Their magic lies mainly in the fact that, the more you look, more surprises would be forthcoming. The harmonized composition can also gives you great Fung Shui within the setting of a room as there is no blockage of Qi.

The last two compositions are just the shabby efforts of William Blake and Caravaggio and they are meant to be used as contrast here. Only a fool will sing their praise. So if you do not mind people saying you are stupid, you can always disagree with the obvious. Their calligraphic energies as emitted from their works are highly erratic and confused, as is obvious here in their black and white representations. One can see without question the confusion and the lunacy in William Blake’s form, but with Caravaggio, a more patient examination is in order. The intruding black chalice,for example, represents a serious blockage of Qi by black and it impedes the movement of white in no small way. It is always a tough job to achieve harmony in the construction of a composition. By that I mean to accomplish zero blockage of Qi flow is not always easy. One can spot that flaw even in Picasso’s Guernica, a rectangular window on the upper right of that gigantic painting represents a blockage of Qi, and such a blockage, whether out of simple negligence or otherwise, has necessarily depreciated the beauty of a composition. If one can achieve the task without blockage , –then one is most likely a real artist,– or a great artist even, depending on the quality of its calligraphic movements and the significance of its invention! If the contrary is true, then one may only be called an artist-wannabe. There seems to be no middle ground in that argument: a work is either art or it is not! Guernica may have come with a small flaw because of the window blockage, it is still great art, one of the greatest in the 20th Century! The small flaw has not done significant damage here. If you do have the talent of an artist, creating the harmonized black and white relationships can become an extremely interesting endeavor and to the Alpha Seer, it has become the challenge of a lifetime!

November 26, 2014

PLACING THE PHOTOS OF THIS BEAUTIFUL ART AT ITS DIFFERENT STAGES SIDE BY SIDE MAY HELP THE LAYMEN BETTER APPRECIATE THE EFFORT PUT INTO ITS CREATION. THE WHITE AREAS HAVE BEEN SELECTED IN OUR EXAMINATION. THEY ARE THEN SUBDIVIDED INTO THE ZONES OF A1, A2, B1, B2, AND B3 ( A1 BEING THE WHITE AREA COMPRISING THE GIRL’S FACE AND SURROUNDING SPACE IN THE FIRST THREE PICTURES, A2 IS THE WHITE AREA THAT COMPRISES THE GIRL’S FACE AND SURROUNDING SPACE IN THE 4TH PICTURE. B1 IS THE WHITE AREA FORMING THE TEAT AND THE BUTT IN THE THIRD PICTURE, B2 BEING THE WHITE AREA FORMING THE TEAT AND THE BUTT IN THE 4TH PICTURE. B3 BEING THE WHITE AREAS FORMING THE TEAT AND THE BUTT IN THE FIRST PICTURE. THE BIGGER PICTURE REPRESENTS THE FINAL FINISHED PRODUCT.) WE MUST ALSO EXAMINE THE THE BLACK ZONES LATER OF COURSE, IN LIKE MANNER. ART MUST BE FULLY EXAMINED AT ITS CORE,–NOT JUST WATERED DOWN WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S OPINIONS. WHO ARE THESE “OTHER PEOPLE”? THEY ARE: ALL OF OUR ART SCHOOL PROFESSORS, ALL OF OUR ART CRITICS, ALL OF OUR GALLERY OWNERS, ALL OF OUR MUSEUM DIRECTORS, AND ALL OF OUR CURRENT SO-CALLED “ARTISTS.” ALL? YES, BECAUSE ART IS UNDERSTOOD BY SO FEW. TO PUT IT MORE SUCCINCTLY, ART CAN ONLY BE FULLY UNDERSTOOD BY THOSE ENDOWED WITH THE INTUITION FOR THE RECOGNITION FOR CALLIGRAPHIC AND COMPOSITION BEAUTY, IN OTHER WORDS, THE ARTISTIC GENIUSES. IN OUR LIFETIME ART HAS BEEN FULLY UNDERSTOOD BY GORKY, DEKOONING, ELIAS GOLDBERG, KNOX MARTIN, AND BEN LAU, AND THEY CAN BE COUNTED ALL ON ONE HAND. IN AN EARLIER TIME, ART WAS FULLY UNDERSTOOD BY INGRES, CEZANNE, MATISSE, PICASSO, SEURAT, JUAN GRIS AND DEGAS. THAT NUMBER IS A LITTLE BETTER BUT STILL VERY, VERY SMALL!

AS SHOWN IN THE FOLLOWING PICTURES, A2 IS OBVIOUSLY SUPERIOR TO A1 BECAUSE A2 IS MORE SMOOTH AND MUCH MORE ELOQUENT THAN A1, AND AS A RESULT, A2 SHOULD BE CONSIDERED STRONGER AND MORE COMPACT.

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’T APPEAR AWKWARD LIKE ITS PREDECESSORS, I.E. THE FIRST THREE PICTURES, BUT RATHER, WAY MORE SMOOTH AND FIRED UP LIKE A ROARING RIVER. IF YOU RECALL THE GREAT CALLIGRAPHIC MOVEMENT OF WANG HSI CHIH, YOU WOULD AGREE THAT IT IS THE RIGHT MOVE TO MAKE. IN NONE OF THOSE CHANGES HAVE THERE BEEN ANY CONJECTURE INVOLVED. THE INCREASE OF THE COMPOSITION’S STRENGTH AND VITALITY OVERALL IS JUST TOO OBVIOUS TO DISMISS, EVEN TO A KID.

NOW THE RULE OF LINEAGE ART APPLIES: WHATEVER THE BLACK IS DOING, THE WHITE IS BOUND TO FOLLOW SUIT, AS WHITE IS A FUNCTION OF BLACK, AND VICE VERSA. IN OTHER WORDS, IF BLACK TWISTS AND TURNS LIKE A RIVER, OR A DRAGON, ITS WHITE COUNTERPART TENDS TO DO LIKEWISE. THIS IS NOT JUST AN ARBITRARY RULE BUT AN INVIOLABLE LAW OF YIN AND YANG. BLACK AND WHITE ARE COMPLEMENT TO EACH OTHER! IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO, LIKE THEY SAY! UNFORTUNATELY, THIS HAS COME TO BE THE HARDEST PART FOR THE LAYMAN TO UNDERSTAND. IF YOU CAN ACHIEVE THIS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TASK,–MAKE NO MISTAKE, THE GREAT MASTER KNOX MARTIN WILL NOT FAIL TO RECOGNIZE YOU AS A GREAT ARTIST!

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THE GREAT MASTER KNOX MARTIN HAS SPOKEN:

Knox

Nov 20 (6 days ago)

to me

BEN ///////////////// STUNNING 1111111111111111111111111111111111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOOK AT HOW ENTHUSIASTIC KNOX MARTIN IS ABOUT THIS PAINTING. AT AN ADVANCED AGE OF 92, KNOX MARTIN WON’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ANYONE’S WORK UNLESS IT IS TRULY BEAUTIFUL, AND A MASTERPIECE !IN THE EXCLUSIVE CLUB OF ARTISTIC GENIUSES, WITH TITIAN AND VAN EYCK INCLUDED, KNOX MARTIN HAS NO PEER KNOX MARTIN’S WEBSITE : WWW.KNOXMARTIN.COM